The Morning After

Another happy Thanksgiving, celebrated with good food and great company.  Now to make quick work of washing the dishes and full steam ahead to Christmas.

Thanksgiving Skyline

 It took mere moments for the Thanksgiving sunrise to fade from this, to this.

The Sunrise Just Now

The colors that greeted me, pulling open the curtains on a new day.

Rain

At long last, a truly rainy day!

150 Years Ago

On the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, the hat, cane and top hat of our greatest president, Abraham Lincoln.

Sharing The Sofa

Sharing the sofa, Thomas has a tendency to take his half out of the center.

Easy To Please

Thomas, the cat who visits, tries out his new blanket.  He seems to like it.

The Sky Last Night

The sunset last night.

Sunday Morning Sunrise

Yesterday dawning over the hill behind the house.

Veterans, thank you.

The Unexpected

What sounded like a baseball hitting the front picture window had me up and out of my seat in a flash.  What a surprise to see a very large hawk on the front porch, dazed from the impact and resting while he gathered his wits about him.  He was up and away in just a few minutes.

Yesterday's Beach Report

Autumn day in the low 70s, extreme tides, lots of sand, exposed cobblestones and a low flying helicopter making its way north to Camp Pendleton.

My Last 2 Cars

Identical to the one above, my first new car, purchased in 1979, was a 1978 Volvo 244 - what a lump.  Has there ever been a worse color for a car? (photo courtesy of flickeriver.com)   It was replaced with a 1986 Ford F-150 in 1987, still going strong twenty-six years later.  Mine looks a heck of a lot better than the one below and has an 8 foot bed, not a six like the one shown.
 

All My Cars, Continued

On Kauai in 1973, $600 got me a sweet 1966 VW squareback, just like the one above, but in forest green.  The floorboards had rusted out in spots, so when the roads were wet there was a lot of sloshing between the front and back seats, but a great little car.

Back on the mainland in 1975, and the owner of a 1965 Volvo 122S, also one of my favorite cars of all time.  Would still be driving it if it hadn't dropped so much of the transmission on the road.  In 1977 it was replaced by another forest green VW squareback, this time a 1968, which seemed awfully boring compared to the Volvo sedan.

My First Cars

 In 1967, on my 16th birthday, thanks to $600 in savings, a 1961 Volkswagen bug just like the one above became my first car.  It was a finicky starter on foggy mornings here on the coast, so my dad showed me how to drape a blanket over the engine at night and that worked like a charm.

The folly of purchasing a British automobile in the Hawaiian Islands still makes me shake my head at my naivete.  But yes, that's a 1961 Hillman, below,  which cost $50 on the island of Kauai in 1971.  Within days it broke down between Lihue and Waimea and remained on the side of the road for close to three months while a distributor cap was shipped in from the UK.  The part cost more than the car.   Couldn't sell it fast enough.

Photo courtesy artvalue.com

And below, one of my favorite cars of all time - a 1951 Chevy sedan, purchased in 1971 on Kauai for $100, with only slightly less rust than the one shown below.  Mine was a three speed, with a white top and green body, ran like a top, great on gas, solid as a rock - a superb driving machine!